SMAAAHL | Saskatchewan AAA Midget Insider Guide

• published: 15 Jul 2013
• views: 579

The SMAAAHL is perhaps the AAA Midget league that emulates a junior hockey the most. With longer road trips and a sizable schedule, the league is the top choice for WHL draft pick and SJHL scouts. Players who want to play in the SMAAAHL will likely be in contact with team long before the season begins. Like in many leagues--as I mention in my books--the top talent is signed in the spring, long before fall camps. It's not uncommon for these top prospect to be affiliates of the team when they are in bantam. Spring camps are usually held in April, while fall camps are in mid-August. Also interesting in Saskatchewan Midget AAA, players can try out anywhere in the province if they aren't hometown players. (There are a couple of stipulations.) While other AAA leagues have territorial restrictions, Sask. players can move to another centre to play and often do. This leads to the best AAA teams recruiting bantam players much like how junior teams recruit AAA midget players. Cost can also be a factor. While most teams are in the same range, parents can expect to shell out around $5000 -- $7500 by the time fees and billets are paid. Teams are upfront about these--if a parent can't pay the team can't survive. After playing one full season and a bit of another in the Saskatchewan AAA midget league, I can fully vouch that the top prospects within the province start there. What makes Saskatchewan a little more interesting than its Western counterparts is that fewer players make the jump to Junior A Hockey Leagues when they are still midget age. This means that unless a potential SMAAAHL player is in the Western League at 16 or 17, they likely will be playing in this league. They could have the goods to play junior already, but the SMAAAHL level is high enough that they can be left to develop. (This is not always the case, but it happens more in this league.) Playing in this league was a perfect primer for junior. I got the mess of moving out of home for the first time at 16 out of the way, I learned how to balance school and road trips, and I also had to take on hockey as a job for the first time, essentially. There was no better way to prepare for junior. More info: http://www.juniorhockeybook.com/smaaahl Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/juniorhockeytruth Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jrhockeytruth Original Video: http://youtu.be/FJ2Fywmsoz4